Dale Lolley is predicting that the Steelers will not make it again this year

by lightningrod on Sep 21, 2009 9:54 AM EDT

http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com

Monday, September 21, 2009

Post-Chicago thoughts

The last time the Steelers played in Chicago - in 1995 - they came back forced overtime, winning at Soldier Field for the only time in team history.

It was a game that proved the 1995 Steelers - a great defensive team - had enough juice offensively to be a Super Bowl contender.

Sunday, we saw the Steelers show why this team – which is great offensively and defensively – might not make it again.

For whatever reason, this team just doesn't seem to be able to keep its foot on the pedal offensively.

The Steelers walked down the field with relative ease on their opening possession and were on their way to a second score when Ben Roethlisberger threw a duck of a pass that was picked off by Charles Tillman.

We didn't see a whole lot of offense after that.

Certainly the rain played a factor in that. But the Steelers played plenty of games in horrid conditions last season.

I know Roethlisberger likes leading the Steelers on fourth quarter game-winning drives and the team has plenty of confidence in him doing that, but it's OK to win by 20 sometimes too.

© From the number of e-mails I received this week about my pick of the Bears to win this game, I guess there were a good number of people who didn't believe me when I wrote that the Steelers would have a more difficult time replacing Troy Polamalu than Chicago would replacing Brian Urlacher.

After watching Polamalu's replacement, Tyrone Cater, get beat for both Chicago touchdowns, I wonder if they believe me now.

© Cincinnati went to Green Bay and won on Sunday, making next week's game against the Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium a big one.

The winner will move to 2-1 and keep pace with Baltimore.

The loser will be 1-2 and trailing the other and Baltimore.

Trust me when I say that the Steelers can lose that game as well.

continued...

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by Dale Lolley

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In my opinion, The Steelers better adapt or they will not make it again this year.

What do I mean by ‘adapt’?

They must add new wrinkles to the offense and defense, every year.

Once teams know what you are doing they will game plan against you.

You must add new wrinkles every year in the NFL

The competition level is just too strong in the NFL today

by lightningrod on Sep 21, 2009 9:56 AM EDT reply actions

I think that Bruce Arians is a good Offensive Coordinator but he is not seeing the Big Picture

It is Mike Tomlin’s job to see the Big Picture and adapt

They changed the run blocking scheme to a pass protect blocking scheme to help protect Big Ben when he scrambles around

They should go back to the old run blocking schemes which they used that one time when Mendenhall broke off a 39 yard run yesterday

by lightningrod on Sep 21, 2009 10:04 AM EDT reply actions

Right now in the NFL the competition level is very tough.

There are a lot of very talented teams out there as far as the rosters are concerned

So the coaching staff and the playbook and schemes that they use are very important today, in my opinion

Teams will game plan for you and you cannot just play the same exact plays from last year.

You must add new wrinkles to the offense and they must improve the running game

by lightningrod on Sep 21, 2009 10:10 AM EDT reply actions

I think the Steelers can repeat this year.

Tyrone Carter is a good football player, but if Ryan Mundy is better in pass defense, than they should put him in there instead.

They must improve the running game

by lightningrod on Sep 21, 2009 10:20 AM EDT reply actions

Tyrone Carter...

sucks…I was hoping he was one of the players cut this summer from the roster. The guy can hit and is intense but has no speed (ref, the Jacksonville playoff loss a few years back), and can not cover to save his life. I don’t see why we need him and not play Mundy who did a good job in situations during the first game against the Titans. Hurry back Troy we miss you lots!! Understatement of the year !!!

by ColinP on Sep 21, 2009 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions